Pages

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Indians love chutneys; they serve it as a dip for
spicy daal pakodas, or as a side with tawa pulav or aloo parathas. It is also
used as a spread for sandwiches and crackers. Why not? After all making chutney
is an easy affair. I visited borough market a week back and those of you
who are in the London will know how amazing Borough Market is! It is a heaven
for food lovers-right from tasty food stalls to fresh fruits and vegetables-you
have everything there. After buying a
big bag of fruits and veggies, my eyes were hooked on to the red plums they
were fresh and alive- so juicy and perfectly matured. I had to pick them up.
Period.

Scene after 4 days:

Mr. Husband- I am bored, I cannot eat plums every day.

Me- well I agree, but I cannot throw them away.

Mr. Husband-Do something but I am not going to have another plum for the whole month.

Me-Ok! Let me see what I can do.

I did quick search on the Google, all I find was
some cake or jam recipes, and I certainly did not want to add refined flour or butter to the
healthy plums. I mean did you know? plums are low in calories (46
calories per 100 g) and contain no saturated fats; however, contain numerous
health promoting compounds, minerals and vitamins. Amazing isn’t it? What can I
do, what can I make? Oh yes, if you can prepare jam with it, why not transformed it to chutney?

Scene on 5th day.

I served this chutney with Dosa.

Mr. Husband- Oh you made
tomato chutney (because they both look same).

Beautiful plums are cooked
with fennel seeds and ginger do create some magic. Cooking plums is a
great way to bring out their natural sweetness, its flavour profile intensifies
and you are left with something so simple yet so elegant, you won’t believe
your taste buds. A life saver recipe!

Ingredients:

2 cups Red Plums

¼ cup jiggery/gud

3-4 Green Chillies, finely
chopped

½ inch Ginger/adrak, peeled
and grated

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder/
Haldi

1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds/ Jeera

1 teaspoon fennel
seeds/saunf

1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds/rai/sarso

2 tablespoon oil

Method:

Deseed the plums and chop
them rougly.

In a pan heat oil, add in
mustard and cumin seeds. Let is pop and splutter. Bring heat to low.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Last whole week was very interesting for me. It was a free
week-too much time for me, too many movies and very little cooking. Don’t you
just love when you get some ‘me time’? I am sure you do! Mr. Husband was in
Hong Kong for the whole week and I had too much spare time-which I use neither
in cooking nor in clicking. It was a movie marathon time for me-I watched 12 movies.
I even shared on my Facebook page about the movie Julie and Julia-trust me every food blogger/lover must see this movie. It is awesome-period!

Coming back to today’s post, it is once again from my Marwadi
kitchen- Papad Ki Subji/Poppadoms Curry.
Yes that’s possible- people all over Rajasthan use papad to make curry and it
is really really popular and my personal favourite. Whose idea was that? Who
was such a genius? Well that we don’t know yet, but I am sure it was the necessity
that turned out to be this amazing invention. The shortage of rains and water
always made Rajasthanis think out of the box and thus they commenced using gram
flour to make gatte; lentils to make mangodi and flour to make papad- and
these final products were used in curries-Mastermind ideas. Totally brilliant-isn't it???

Marwadi cuisine is my favorite; after all I am a marwadi
that too from Rajasthan. Months back I blogged about Marwadi Aloo Pyaz Ki Subji and the response was unbelievable-it was the most popular recipe on my blog for
months; fellow blogger tried and loved it. Next, I posted about Marwadi BharwaBhindi and it too was liked by many. Soon I got requests about posting more
marwadi recipes on my blog. So here it is.

Papad ki subji can be made in many ways; I am ofcourse sharing
the authentic marwadi style. It is one no nonsense curry-no chopping of vegetables,
no onion, no garlic; just simple yogurt and basic spices are used. The roasted
papads are broken roughly and is added to the yogurt gravy with spoon full of
chopped coriander leaves-the outcome is lip smacking, spicy curry.

Ingredients:

Papads – 10

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

Pinch asafoetida/hing

1/2 cup yogurt/dahi

1 and 1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons Coriander Powder/dhaniya

1 tablespoon gram flour/besan

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder/haldi

To taste- red chilli powder/lal mirchi

To taste-salt

2 tabelspoons coriander leaves chopped/dhaniya

1 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

Roast/ fry/ microwave the Papads. Break them into pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and add in the Cumin Seeds and
allow them to splutter. Add in the asafoetida.

Meanwhile, work on the ingredients for the gravy, in a
cup mix the yogurt and 1/2 cup of water. To the Yogurt mix add spices:
Coriander Powder, Turmeric Powder, Gram Flour, Red Chili Powder and Salt. Mix
well.

Turn down the heat to the lowest and add the yogurt/water
mix while stirring constantly.

Keep stirring and once the mixture is all in the pan,
increase the heat to a medium. Allow the mixture to reduce and the oil to
separate.

Add the broken pieces of papad and mix.

Add the remaining water and allow it to cook for 8-10
minutes.

Taste and adjust the spices, add lemon juice if needed.

Garnish with Cilantro and serve hot.

Notes:

If the yogurt is not sour, leave the yogurt on the
counter-top overnight to get it to sour.

Don’t add too much salt first time, remember papad has
salt.

You can chopped onion and garlic too, before adding yogurt
gravy in the oil.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

We love anything food!!...we love cooking...we love clicking ...we love writing........oh yeah blogging!
The journey of food blogging hooked Me at Merry Tummy and Sireesha Puppala at Siris Food to
the beautiful journey of photography. We see an apple and a dream visualise in a
million ways as how it could be presented in our blogs. Sometimes the apple
come out damn sexy and sometimes it could almost look like a ripen guava. Early
mornings, late afternoons, clicking clicking and clicking...exhausted- we
finally give in and give up, But we learn, gain experience and get to know the
mistakes.

I reached a point from here to here and I am still learning.

Before and after shots of same mango drink!

Siri came from Here to Here.

Before and after shots of drinks- You can see the differences! Awesome-isn't it?

....And both of
us could go back to where we started anytime , So we PRACTICE.. Yes we are bad
photographers, But want to be good photographers, So we learn, we give up, we
restart, we experiment, we click, we share. Yes WE SHARE.

Is it for you??

Do you love clicking photos?Do you enjoy sharing your
clicks? Do you want to experiment and try new techniques? Do you need a platform
to showcase the pictures? ..........If the answers to all these questions are YES then
our new series SATURDAY SNAPSHOTS is for you.

What is it?SATURDAY SNAPSHOTS is a gateway to practice and learn
photography through sharing our clicks. How we learn?A theme will be given
during the start of the week for a photograph-Like click any fruit, empty
glass, or a dessert- anything connected to the food. Each of us will click in
our own style and post the pic on our blog on every Saturday .Yes JUST the picture, no write ups,
content-you heard it- no lengthy post-wow, isn't it??

Why join us?

We are no professional photographers and we are not here to
judge your snaps. We have no strict rules, we don’t want you to cook anything
special to click-we just want to have fun together. We just want to motivate each other and make
our food photography journey more interesting. We will encourage each other with
supportive comments, new ideas and suggestions.

How can you join?

Leave
your email address in the comments and we will get back to you with the
next steps! Join us at our Facebook Group. Lets be curious, lets be enthusiastic, lets be upbeat and lets be
creative...and lets be mad!! But let continue to learn.

Passion is all what we need!! That’s all. Ready???_______________________________________________________________

Monday, July 21, 2014

Anyone here a fan/follower of the BBC series The Great
British Bake Off? If yes then you must surely remember Edd Kimber - the boy who
bakes- the winner of 2010 series. He
became quite popular after winning the series and ofcourse because of his astounding
baking adventures. So it happened 2 weeks back when I was approached to try any
of the 3 recipes that Edd has created using Jordan Cereals and I said yes
without giving any second thoughts.

Jordan Cereals as a part of their countryside celebration
has teamed up with Edd to create food recipes inspired by the The Jordans
Wildlife Garden. The range of three exiting new recipes included a tasty and
easy to make Mixed Berry Traybake with Rosehip Syrup for a tangy finish and a
Cherry Plum crumble With Cobnuts-warming, comforting and packed with wild
cherry plums and the wonderfully nutty flavour of British cobnuts.

Even though the above choices were interesting and
dashingly tasty, I chose to try -THE ALPINE STRAWBERRY FOOL- a simple, delicious
and traditional English dessert. It is prepared using Jordans Country Crisp Strawberries
which are crunchy baked cereal clusters of oats with a smattering of chopped
hazelnuts and a generous handful of silky-smooth strawberries chucked in on
top. Just mix it up with yogurt, milk or whipped cream, you are ought to enjoy
it every time.

Coming back to the dessert-I totally prize the idea of
serving it up into the individual glasses-so apt and perfect for barbeque
parties and sleepovers. Edd explained the recipe and instructions so well that
I understood it all just after one read. The pictures might intimidate you but
trust me it is very simple and even a novice can make it to the perfection. After
cooking strawberries, its flavour profile intensifies and you are left with
something so simple yet so elegant, you won’t believe your taste buds. The
layer of creamy custard, velvety whipped cream and crunchy bits of cereals when
sums up together as a dessert it is magical, luxurious and irresistible.

Place the milk and vanilla bean paste into a medium
saucepan and bring to the boil. Whilst coming to temperature, place the egg and
yolks into a large bowl along with the caster sugar and the cornflour, whisking
together until smooth. Pour the hot milk onto the eggs, whisking constantly.
Pour this custard back into the pan and over medium heat, stir constantly until
the custard has thickened (it should have the texture of custard made with
powder, thicker than a crème analgise but still pourable). Pour back into the
bowl and press a sheet of cling film onto the surface of the custard and
refrigerate until cold.

For the strawberry compote

Place the strawberries and sugar into a medium saucepan
and cook over medium heat until the fruit has released lots of juice. Continue
to cook until the juice has reduced to syrup and the strawberries have just
started to break down. Pour into a small bowl and refrigerate until chilled.

To assemble the fools

Divide half of the compote between six glasses and top
with the custard. Sprinkle the Jordans Country Crisp Strawberries onto the
custard and then set the glasses aside for the moment. In a large bowl whisk
the cream until it holds soft peaks, add most of the remaining compote
(reserving a little to decorate the desserts) and gently fold together, leaving
it partially swirled in. Spoon the cream mixture into the glasses.

To finish the fool

Spoon the remaining compote on top of the cream and
sprinkle a little extra Jordans Country Crisp Strawberries. If you want to make
the decoration of the dessert extra special, add one or two crystallised rose
petals to each glass. To make these, paint rose petals with a thin layer of egg
white and dip into sugar, making sure everything is covered. Set the petals
onto a parchment lined baking tray and allow drying out for at least two hours,
but preferably overnight.

Notes:

When folding in the compote, use a very light hand to
ensure a pretty rippling effect.

Be sure to stop whipping the cream as soon it holds soft
peaks as, if you are refrigerating, it will keep the mixture silky smooth.You cannot make this dessert ahead of time, as the cereals will get soggy.

Friday, July 18, 2014

There are some dishes, things and products that I tried
or even heard off after coming to the UK. One such ingredient is quinoa- the
new superstar of health. When I cooked it for the first time, I fell in
love with those fluffy tiny bits and since then I use quinoa a lot in my
kitchen, even though this is the first time I talking about it on my blog.

What is quinoa?

Quinoa, pronounced ‘keen-wa’ is a great
wheat-free alternative to starchy grains. There are two types: red and creamy
white. Both types are slightly bitter when cooked and open up to release little
white curls (like a tail) as they soften. It is originally from South America (Peru,
Chile and Bolivia) and is now becoming popular everywhere and specially in the UK.

Benefits of quinoa?

With twice the protein content of rice or
barley, quinoa is also a very good source of calcium, magnesium and
manganese. It also possesses good levels of several B vitamins, vitamin E
and dietary fibre. Like buckwheat, quinoa has an excellent amino acid profile,
as it contains all nine essential amino acids making it a complete-protein
source. Quinoa is therefore an excellent choice for vegans who may struggle to
get enough protein in their diets.

Cautions with quinoa?

Quinoa is coated with toxic chemical called
saponin. It is therefore important to rinse quinoa thoroughly. And moderation
is key -so it shouldn't be eaten every day. A few times a week is enough.

What I did with quinoa?

Well you can always prepare Quinoa like rice with
veggies, but I went ahead and experimented and combined it with other super
healthy thing-Oats to make dhokla. Dhokla is authentically made with rice,
lentils, gram flour and is a specialty of Gujarat. Basically the batter needs
to be fermented and then it is steamed like a cake, cut into squares and
finally tadka of mustard seeds and green chillies is poured on it. Mr.Husband is a hard core gujrati food lover and I do prepare gujarati snacks a lot, you can see Spinach Muthiya, Khamman Dhokla, Ragda Patties, Sev Tamato Nu Shaak recipes on my blog.

Quinoa and oats dhokla is sooooo healthy and Oh! Did I tell you it is instant? Yes you just
mix up everything and steam, no need to soak up things or ferment it. Chopped
green chillies and ginger is added to the batter which makes it even more
special and tasty. I never thought that the ingredient like Quinoa can be used
in this Indian style. Anyone of you who love Guajarati food will surely, surely
enjoy this nutrient packed snack. Great for evening, tea time snack, kids’
tiffin box or just as a meal over all.

Ingredients:

1 cup Quinoa

1 cup oats (instant)

1 tablespoon yogurt/dahi

1 teaspoon eno (see notes)

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons oil

Water as needed

1 green chilli chopped

1 teaspoon grated ginger

2 green chillies slitted

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

Method:

Fill the water in the steamer and preheat it. Grease the
plate with oil.

In a grinder, grind Quinoa to fine
powder, just like flour. Do the same with oats as well.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Every year when I search on the internet about the ideas to celebrate
husband’s birthday-bake a cake is the most common reply. 12 July was Mr.
Husband’s birthday and he was very excited as it was falling over a
weekend. Celebrations started on Friday night and I made dinner comprising his favorite dishes- veggie momos with sweet chill dip,
pizza tarts , schezwan noodles and Indian Vodka Mojito. Of course I baked for him a Chocolate Cake
With Chocolate Mousse but to that we will get later.

For Saturday I planned the whole day out and the weather was
pretty pleasant too. For breakfast we grabbed authentic Bombaybreakfast at Dishoomwhich was a great experince and mumbaikars who are in London must must visit this place. Then we went to Waterloo Oden IMAX to see 40 minutes documentary on Space Mission and those of you, who
haven’t seen this, do check this out-it is amazing 3D. After that we head to
Covent Garden and had a lazy laid back lunch at Cafe Mode, I am so impressed
with the vegetarians’ options there and ambiance will surely set the mood. After
lunch I took him to Play House theater to see the play based on the book 1984 (which is one of his favorite books) and he totally enjoyed the play. The
evening ended after the quick break at Trafalgar square and we reached home
tired but happy. Even though I booked the table for dinner, we wanted to be at
home-just us, and eat something simple. Finally we both prepared Daal Tadka in microwave,
Rice and Marwadi Aloo Pyaz and enjoyed it to the core.

Coming back to the cake. So this cake is for someone who is a
hardcore chocolate lover. It is deeply loaded with chocolate and chocolate. The
chocolate cake is layered with chocolate Ganache and is finally topped with
chocolate mousse swirls and fenced around with chocolate shards. Extremely
moist, gooey and chocolaty and only a chocoholic will understand and enjoy this
cake to the fullest.

Ingredients:

For Sponge Cake:

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour/maida

3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup milk

2 tablespoon yogurt/dahi

1/4 cup butter/makhan

1 cup sugar/chinni

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon Vanilla essence

2 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar

For Mousse

250 Ml whipping cream

Powdered Sugar - ¼ Cup

Chopped Chocolate: 125 gm

For Ganache:

150 grams chocolate

150 ml cream

For Chocolate shards:

100 grams chocolate

2 tablespoons butter

Method:

For Sponge:

Preheat the oven at 180C. Line and dust the cake tin.

In a mixing bowl mix sugar, butter and yogurt. Mix till it
gets light and sugar is dissolved.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Whether you want to stay fit or wish to have a glowing skin
the solution is to include greens in your diet.
Last year Kale leaves became very popular just like some trend and
everyone tried it, talked about it and blogged about it. I too wanted to include
atleast one Kale recipe in my vegetarian blog but I just couldn't stand the
taste of kale- the colour, the flavour, the texture nothing impressed me. So I decided
to part my way with kale and became friendlier with spinach.

Spinach or as we say palak or saag in hindi is my favorite green.
The crisp and bright green spinach is not just appealing to eyes, but is a home of lot of nutrients. It is low in fat and even lower in cholesterol, spinach is
high in niacin and zinc, as well as protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K,
thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium,
copper, and manganese. And another jewel in the crown is its price and availability-
available throughout the year in every part of the world and is very much
affordable. So to simplify-include spinach in your daily diets as it is loaded
with goodness for every part of your body and pocket.

If you fancy something rich and creamy try Malai Palak Paneer (chunks of cottage cheese in creamy spinach sauce) or try the healthy
Corn Palak Subzi (corn and spinach as a stir fry). You can also attempt to
prepare Palak Mutter Paneer which is the makeover of old classics Mutter Panner and
Palak Paneer. If all these doesn't please you I am sure the idea of using spinach in lentils will surely do, so
indulge in Palak Yellow daal. Overall using spinach in curries, breads and lentils is a good idea and the green colour to the final product is cherry on the
cake.

Today I am sharing with you Palak Bhaji, a mashed stir fry
of spinach with onions and tomatoes. Ok this recipe is my daadi’s (grandmother)
treasured recipe and she learnt to cook it from her mother. Oh my god, it is so
easy and sooo healthy that words can’t define. If you are in hurry, if you are
not in the mood to chop vegetables finely, if you want to indulge into healthy
eating-the answer is Palak Bhaji. Beautifully green with hint of garlic and
chunks of tomatoes, jazzed up with the heat of green chillies and finally a spoon of
ghee is what makes this Bhaji insanely amazing. Anyone of you who will try this in
your kitchen will surely thank me later ;-)

Never ever cover the pot when cooking spinach. Leaving the
pot uncovered helps to release more of the acids with the rising steam. I used Amul ghee, you can use any ghee. Ghee is called as clarified butter in English.

You can also add in chopped methi leaves/fenugreek leaves
with spinach. See my post on how to grow methi/fenugreek leaves at home.Remember spinach is bit salty due to sodium content, so add little salt first. Taste and then adjust.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Summer afternoon, these two words have been my favorite after coming to London. A glass of wine, a kiss of English tea and pleasant
sunshine is what describes summer for me. Now imagine yourself under a
beautiful tree with your favorite book, a glass of wine and some sandwiches- happiness isn't it? Summer sandwiches
are very popular in England and they are sold everywhere-from classy summer
cruises to afternoon tea sessions; from supermarkets to cafes.

View of Canary Wharf from the hill to the Observatory In Greenwich

When we are talking about sandwiches today, I decided to share
some facts about them. Hope you will enjoy:

The sandwich is named
after John Montagu (1718-92), the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who started a craze for
eating beef between two slices of toast.

Around 12
billion sandwiches are eaten every year in the UK.

In 2008, an attempt in
Iran to beat the record for the world's biggest sandwich failed when the
impatient crowd ate it before it was measured.

The world’s largest sandwich weighed 5,440
pounds.

The most expensive sandwich ever sold was a grilled toast sandwich that
seemed to have an image of the Virgin Mary on it. It sold for $28,000 in
2004.

I have tried the classic and old cucumber cheese sandwiches but
I was not much drawn towards them, as I don’t like the bread without crust. The deep brown boundary of bread- the crust, is what makes a sandwich, a sandwich (for me). Just, last weekend I happened to taste Cheese
and Onion sandwiches and it was the best sandwich I ever had, period!

Imagine the dollops of cheese with crunchy sliced red onions
layered neatly between the soft, cotton like white bread- insanely delicious. It
is one real good sandwich, creamy, cheesy and honest. It doesn't need much preparation
but you need to make these sandwiches right before serving, else it will go soggy
and will be one huge disaster. If you want to REALLY enjoy
them, then pack up a picnic and head to your local park. Apply the filling on
the bread, cut in 4 triangles (like finger sandwiches) and serve in paper plates
with ketchup. I always like to pair lemon soda water with these sandwiches.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

There are days when you are lazy, mood less and without energy.
What do you cook on such days? I always tend to make pasta. Pasta that is available
in different shapes, size and ingredients always tends to attract me. By the way did you know that there are 600
shapes of pasta, out of which penne, spaghetti and fusilli are most known? Pasta
is easy, quick and healthy - after all it is one huge source of carbohydrates and
if prepared properly it can be one satisfying and filling meal.

When choosing pasta I like to pick that is not made with
refined flour-who wants to indulge in bad carbs-do you?? Recently I picked up fusilli-the
twisty ones which were made with wheat germs. Wheat germ is the heart of the
wheat grain, rich in flavor and is a nourishing active ingredient. When this
wheat germ pasta was boiling up in the pot of hot water, it released intense
wheat aroma which was amazing and beyond words.

Like me, if you love garlic and olive oil you are going to
get under the influence of the flavors pretty soon. Forever. Oh yes you need to actually burn or let me say
over fry garlic in olive oil which will provide
richness and amazing depth of flavour to finished dish. So let’s see the
recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cup of pasta

6 garlic cloves/lehsun

2 onion/pyaz

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Salt to taste

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder/kali mirch

1/4 teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)

1/4 teaspoon dried herbs (oregano+basil+thyme)

Method:

Place big pot of water to boil. When you see the steam, add
in pasta with little salt. Cook pasta till it is soft yet crunchy. Strain and
keep aside.

Grate garlic and chop onions length wise.

Heat oil in a pan. When oil is hot, add in garlic and keep
mixing till garlic is golden brown in colour.

Mix in onions and stir. When onions are half done add in
boiled pasta and all the remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Serve with bread and a glass of red wine.

Notes:

You can use any pasta. Please do not add oil when pasta is
boiling, it will make your pasta slippery and the spices and sauce will not
coat on it. When pasta starts touching the wall of pot- it means it is done.

I was out of veggies, but please free to add any vegetables
like carrots, bell pepper etc.